Optical fibers are utilized in optical transmission systems to transfer light. Optical fibers are generally provided in various standard sizes such as 3 micron, 9 micron, 50 micron 62.5 micron, as well as other sizes. The micron size refers to the diameter of the light transmitting fiber, or core, which is encased within an exterior cladding. Thus, a fiber designated as 3/125 will have a 3 micron fiber diameter core and the cladding will have an outer diameter of 125 microns.
The fibers terminate at ferrules which have a body of ceramic or other material. When making a connection between two fiber optic cables, the ferrules on the ends of the two cables fibers are coupled together at a connector to maintain the ferrules in alignment and in close contact to minimize insertion and reflective losses. Light will be lost if the ends of the fibers are separated as a gap will allow light to escape.
In order to insure good face-to-face contact and good light transmission between abutting fiber optic ends, the ends are inserted into ferules and glued in place. The projecting fibers are normally cleaved and thereafter initially polished and reduced in length by polishing/grinding to trim the longer, projecting fibers end or nubs with a coarse polishing film. Initial polishing reduction is normally followed by a second, finer polishing. This two step procedure is required as subjecting the cleaved fibers to machine finer polishing will cause the fibers to break due to the length of the nubs and roughness of the fiber ends. Thus, the first step is normally an air polishing which is performed by manually polishing or polishing/grinding the fiber ends with a polishing film of predetermined coarser grit. After the initial step, one or more subsequent fine polishing steps may occur which can be performed manually or using devices or machines for this purpose.
Various types of fiber end surface polishing devices can be found in the prior art. Some of these are simply a hand tool through which the fiber optic terminal extends. The fiber optic terminal is gripped by a chuck or collar and the user manually moves the hand tool containing the fiber optic tip in a random motion over a polishing surface.
Other polishing machines are available such as the OFL-12A polishing machine from Seiko® and the SpecMaster II Mass Fiber Optic Connector Polishing System from Krell. The more sophisticated polishing machine such as the Seiko and Krell polishers work well, but are expensive, require a high degree of operator skill and are generally not suitable for field use.
Manual polishing devices and techniques, while inexpensive and more suitable for field use, often do not produce the desired optical surface and, further, use of these devices results in waste as a substantial area of the polishing film remains unused when discarded or replaced.
The present invention provides an improved fiber optic polishing device which is inexpensive in first cost, which may be operated either at a manufacturing facility or in the field by an individual after minimal training, and which device results in efficiency of operation labor while expending most of the polishing film surface area to reduce waste.